Pro Vs Punter Norse, Harrogate

Does a regular diner reach the same conclusion about a restaurant as a food pro, who may get special treatment if recognised?* Emma Sturgess and Olive reader Andrew Murphy compare notes on this new Scandi-inspired opening.

- Emma Sturgess & Andrew Murphy

Norse

Following a successful kickstarter campaign, Paul Rawlinson and Simon Jewitt (pictured, left to right) have upped their game from an evening pop-up in Harrogate’s Scandi café, Baltzersens, to a permanent home in the pretty spa town in North Yorkshire. 

Norse plays on Paul’s Norwegian heritage to offer a Scandi-inspired casual-dining restaurant – plenty of oak and beech wood, a wall of moss, smart leather banquettes – with waiters dressed casually and a Nordic menu to match. 

Go all in with the weekly-changing seasonal tasting menu (£49), or choose from a dozen or so small plates. Dishes include Whitby crab with cucumber and pea; and confit hake with hay-baked celeriac, mussels, roasted lettuce and BBQ bone sauce. Well-balanced desserts range from crisp Norwegian krumkake waffle biscuits with whisky gel and blackcurrant, to sharp sea buckthorn tart with cardamom ice cream. norserestaurant.co.uk

Our pro says…

If not by the fermented vegetables, you shall know Norse’s intentions by its Scandi-modern décor. Or, of course, the casual but knowledgeable service, as predictable a feature of contemporary Nordic-inspired restaurants as the ornamental moss in the loo. In fact, just one plaid-shirted member of staff made the effort to engage with us, warmly and well, while her colleagues favoured the dish-delivery equivalent of a Gallic shrug. *I was not recognised.